FURS. 
bd - 8 remarks as may. tend to the elucidation 
oi ae aaa bier the Indians form purely .a 
harter trade, as money is of little value in a country where 
every thing bou ae ee fold i is, and muft be, in kind. 
The articles re ed for the trade are, coarfe woollen cloths 
of various kinds, milled blankets of different fizes ; arms and 
ammunition ; .twift and carrot tobacco; divers forts o 
Manchelter "goods ; = and coarfe fheetings ; Aaieoes 
line, and twine ; comm dware ; mares an nmon- 
ar 
gery of feveral epi ons; brafs and copper aaa: 
; filk, and cotton handkerchiefs 3 s hats, fhoes, and 
cottons, &c. &c. Thefe are oa 
aoa liquors and div ersarticles 
“batean, abo Ge raed hoe a 
ele. are e_conveye by” il 
hic at La un about nine 
two es 
or Guava aad by other rivers ba portages, to 
eoeabe yy lake = ae r, and thence e by “feveral 
North America. In this range of their ae ce coupany 
have at times fro om one to two thoufand people in their 
potts, difperfed ov 
age in canoes; 
Rainy lake. T hefe, which are called porkeaters, or goers and 
Montreal, were abfent from 
x hun 
ete and fifty to nee hundred and fifty livres, with an 
equipment of one blanket, one fhirt, and one pair of tro wiers, 
‘and were maintained diring the voyage at the expence of 
their employers. Independent of wages, they were east a 
m earned to a ual a 
equipmen 
ie e year, nd i in “fome Aa ain for three 
clerks, many of them were a caearts 
Who akere gener ral engaged for five or fevén years, for 
which they had only one hundred pounds, with provifion and nor 
« othing.”” 
The neceffary number of catioes having- been purchafed, 
at three hundred livres each, the. ‘goats forméd into packages, 
3 
gs of ice, 
Eights n men 
bagga nei ; pe ee res with ner nec cao 
and ah five ne es of goods, are ftowed into a fall 
veffel. ropean, on feeing one of thefe flender vef- 
fels, (tays Mr. Mackenzie,) thus laden, heaped up, and funk 
with her gun-wale within fix inches the water, would 
think his fate inevitable in fuch a boat, when he refleGt- 
ed on the nature of her voyage; but a poo are 
fo expert, that few accidents happen.” 
ftructed with much ingenuity, itis pe efealy light, and tit 
that means anfwers rema arkab y well the purpofes for which 
it is intended. The len f thofe canoes, are ufed 
in the fur trade, is about thirty feet, the greateft breadth 
nate m a point ; 
ke A fame is formed of flight pieces of light w 
nee is faftened a fheathing, compofed of fedtions of bark, 
ro 
and the ee or mak e feams watersight, is effet 
by a fpecies of gum Bh hardens and adheres more 
firmly in the ae “‘T had t slate, (obferves Mr. 
Gray,) of feeing both an al and departure of canoes 
om, and to, the north-weft territories. It certainly is a 
curious fpectacle. The canoes, when they take their de- 
parture from La pole are rie . eee areas fix peel 
f the Sata ies edge of oa 
addles, which ae pee with pee dexteri ay, 
They firtce off, fin ngin = 08 ng Ee culiar to themfelves, 
called the ‘ voyager’s fon one man takes the lead, and 
all the others join in a oie Tt i is aay pleafing to 
people, who are toiling a prugetl fuch marks of goo 
humour and contentment, although they know, that’ 
pace of more than two thoufand miles, aioe exertions mutt 
e 
$ river, an 
prefents itfelf to the ae, 3 Ww en to ea ie rapids of 
St. Anne, are obliged: to take out part, if not the whole, of 
their lading. From this {pot they cénfider their departure, 
dedica- 
i 
vals, by a variety of cafcades and rapids, that either render 
decharges, or portages neceflary. By the former‘are meant 
places where the canoes muft unload their cargoes, and. ‘the 
carried over to points, where uae river again 
e latter, 
Qa 
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a 
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and Michigans and math ing along the north fhore of the 
former, they portage over the falls of the river St. Mary, 
ick 
